An independent report into the accident, which severed an elderly woman’s hand, is expected to take at least two weeks to complete, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam says.

SINGAPORE: A thorough investigation will be carried out into the lift accident at Tah Ching Road last Friday which severed an elderly woman’s hand, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said Wednesday (Oct 14).

Madam Khoo Bee Hua, a resident in Mr Tharman’s Jurong Group Representation Constituency, lost her left hand after it was trapped between lift doors in her attempt to retrieve her pet dog, which had failed to follow her into the lift before the doors closed. She has been warded at the National University Hospital (NUH) since the accident.

Speaking to reporters after visiting Mdm Khoo at the hospital on Wednesday, Mr Tharman said an independent report by an authorised examiner into the cause of the accident is expected to take at least two weeks to complete. The lift has been suspended from use since the accident.

“We have to take responsibility. We will wait for the authorised examiner to do an independent report,” he said.

“Time to time, you get problems like this in Singapore. It may be technical faults that aren’t spotted well enough through maintenance. Or it may be bad luck sometimes. But we have to minimise any such possibility and that means engineering and technical work really has to take safety very, very seriously.”

Mr Tharman said he has assured Mdm Khoo’s family that the authorities will thoroughly investigate the accident. “There’s nothing to hide,” he said.

“The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) keeps a list of authorised examiners who are highly qualified and experienced, and we must let them do a thorough and independent job. In fact, (the authorised examiner) is likely to ask BCA for a bit more time – he’ll need at least two weeks to do a thorough job and not a quick checklist of sorts,” he said.

There can be no compromise on the issue of lift safety, he added. “Lifts are something that we all depend on every day. We don’t want people to worry when taking the lift. There must have been something wrong with the lift – even if maintenance checks were done, there must have been something wrong.”

“SHE’S REMARKABLY STRONG”

Mr Tharman also said that Mdm Khoo was in good spirits and “doing very well under the circumstances”.

“She’s a remarkably strong person. Her doctors have assessed that she’s doing extremely well and this is partly because of her make up – she’s got a very strong mind, totally alert,” he said.

“We had a very long conversation. Her mind is totally alert and that’s really her spirit. She really is the archetypal pioneer – strong spirit, been through ups and downs in life and still determined to be independent, insists on being independent, doing everything for herself.”

Mr Tharman said he has known Mdm Khoo for 14 years, and that she is well-regarded in the community.

Madam Khoo Bee Hua, a resident in Mr Tharman’s Jurong Group Representation Constituency, lost her left hand after it was trapped between lift doors in her attempt to retrieve her pet dog,

“I was very sad when I found out who it was. I immediately contacted my grassroots leaders to make sure that we got in touch with the family and assured them of our full support,” he said.

The Deputy Prime Minister was in Peru when the accident happened. He arrived in Singapore on Wednesday morning and then made his way to NUH, where he visited Mdm Khoo for more than an hour. Her 59-year-old son was present during the visit.

Some of her neighbours and those who know her told Channel NewsAsia that she had a habit of walking her dog three times a day and is an active member of a seniors club near her home. Some of the words used to describe Madam Khoo include “cheerful”, “friendly”, and “pleasant”.

“When I meet her – I’m on the 7th (floor) and she’s on the 16th – we always cross paths inside the lift where we say ‘hello, how are you’,” said Mr Joseph Naidu, a resident at Tah Ching Road. “She’ll ask me on Sunday morning, at 7.30am when I get my newspapers, she’ll ask where I’m going. I’ll say, ‘going to church’, She’d say, ‘ah, bagus (‘good’ in Malay), bagus’.”